AS IT HAPPENED: Delay in KZN premier receiving final Moerane Commission report

2018-06-12 15:00

KZN Premier Willies Mchunu was meant to have officially received the final report from the Moerane Commission of inquiry, but the briefing was cancelled after a lengthy delay.

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12 Jun 15:23

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After a prolonged delay with no real explanation or excuse, the briefing has now been cancelled. A new date for the handing over of the final report from the Moerane Commission of inquiry is yet to be determined.

12 Jun 15:15

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According to an official from the premier's office, the premier is attending a special cabinet meeting which appears to have run way over time.

An official from the Premier's office says a Cabinet sitting ran over and has therefore caused a delay for the Moerane Commission report. @TeamNews24

Media are staging a walkout after waiting for the Moerane Commission report handover for over an hour. We were now told there would be a further delay. No reasons have been given as to what the delay is. @TeamNews24pic.twitter.com/AV7khLIqNv

The media is walking out of the presser where KZN Premier, Willis Mchunu was to officially receive the final Moerane Commission of Inquiry report. Apparently the media waited for about an hour before they were informed that the Premier is attending a special cabinet meeting. pic.twitter.com/VCGI8RJB1e

Members of the media have just been informed of a further 25-minute delay.

Media have just been told that there is a 25 minute delay from now for the Moerane Commission report. This after being told we would start at 14:00. Many media have begun to walkout. The delay thus far is estimate at 1.5 hours @TeamNews24

R2K activists are barred from entering the Marine Building where KZN Premier, Willis Mchunu and members of the Provincial Executive are officially receiving the final report from the Moerane Commission of Inquiry. R2K demands that the report be made public! #OngaziMakazipic.twitter.com/1TV7koLKkP

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Willies Mchunu will on Tuesday officially receive the final report from the commission that investigated a spate of suspected politically motivated killings in the province.

The commission of inquiry, chaired by Advocate Marumo Moerane, was set up in 2016 by Mchunu.

The commission investigated killings that have taken place in the province since 2011. It has been widely reported that political killings in KZN since 2014 have claimed well over 100 lives.

The Moerane report will be handed over in the presence of the media, where aspects of the report will be assessed. The report is also expected to be tabled in Parliament.

The premier's spokesperson Thami Ngidi previously told News24 that the transcripts would not be made public because key witnesses would be compromised.

KZN political killings: Witness intimidation part of 'enormous challenges' encountered in probe

"Enormous challenges" have been encountered in the investigation of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the inter-ministerial committee probing the latest incidents of violence in the province.

The inter-ministerial committee in the security cluster was set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 14, after the murder of ANC convenor in the Moses Mabhida region, Musawenkosi Mchunu.

Mchunu was shot dead on May 11.

The ministerial task team comprises the departments of justice, police, state security and defence.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula revealed at a media briefing on Monday that, in their interaction with the multi-disciplinary team set up in 2016 to investigate the killings, it became "clear" that there were challenges in the process.

"In our interaction it has become clear that there have been enormous challenges, hence the inability to conclude some of the cases," she said.

Evidence leaders at the Moerane Commission delivered their closing arguments in Mount Edgecombe on Wednesday - after almost a year of public hearings.

The commission was established by Premier Willis Mchunu in October 2016, amid a high number of political killings in the province. Chaired by advocate Marumo Moerane, the commission is investigating killings in the province since 2011.

Leading evidence in a full day sitting, advocates Bheki Manyathi and Andile Ngqanda attempted to draw focus and assist commissioners producing their final report on political killings that have plagued KwaZulu-Natal in recent years.

Manyathi spoke at length about the infamous Glebelands Hostel and said that, while the commission was not investigating the hostel itself, it featured strongly because politics was the primary cause of violence there.

Moerane Commission: Police testify that Glebelands murders were not political

KwaZulu-Natal police have testified that the high number of murders at the infamous Glebelands Hostel were not politically motivated.

The senior police officers were giving evidence at the Moerane Commission of Inquiry on Monday, detailing progress police had made in investigating killings, and responding to numerous claims of poor police work.

Brigadier Tebogo Mbhele, the provincial head of organised crime in KZN and the head of the task team investigating Glebelands murders and attempted murders, said he personally read up on cases.

"Since I took over investigating cases [at] Glebelands, I have perused a lot of cases where we obtained statements. There is nothing linking those murder cases to politics. The murders are pure criminality, nothing else. The people who have been arrested are ordinary criminals."

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